“Nearly 3,000 areas in the U.S. have lead poisoning rates at least double those in Flint [MI] during the peak of that city’s contamination crisis,” a new report finds.

In an assessment of national lead testing data, Reuters said lead poisoning hotspots are scattered across the country, from Warren, PA, where 36 percent of children tested had high lead levels; to pockets in Cleveland, Baltimore and Philadelphia.

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At least 4 million households have children living in them that are being exposed to high levels of lead, CDC says. The new report analyzes lead testing data in 21 states.

Unlike Flint, many of these locations have received little national attention or funding to fight the poisoning, which the report says comes from aging paint, plumbing and industrial waste.

The report, "Off the Charts: The thousands of U.S. locales where lead poisoning is worse than in Flint," includes an interactive map and highlights cases around the country.

Comparing Flint

Flint was thrust into national spotlight in early 2016 when troubling levels of lead were found in drinking water due to corrosive pipes. The report says 5 percent of children there had elevated lead levels at the peak of the contamination.

In its analysis, Reuters found more than 1,100 of the 3,000 communities identified had a rate of elevated blood tests at least four times higher than Flint. Experts call the findings eye-opening and alarming.

The report notes that “since the heavy metal was phased out from paint and gasoline in the late 1970s, children’s average blood lead levels have dropped by more than 90 percent.

“That success story masks a sober reality in neighborhoods where risk abatement has failed,” the report says, citing experts.

The report relies on data obtained from state health departments and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and covers 21 states, home to around 61 percent of the U.S. population, Reuters said. Some states provided data from 2005 through 2015, while others could only provide five years, the report notes.

‘Half a Million’ Children

The CDC says there is no safe level of lead, but puts the current threshold for an elevated blood lead level at 5 micrograms per deciliter. Above this level, the CDC recommends a public health response.

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The CDC lead reference value is 5 micrograms per deciliter.

Nationwide, at least 4 million households include children who are being exposed to high levels of lead, CDC says, estimating that approximately half a million children ages 1-5 have elevated levels of lead in their blood.

The Reuters report highlights the story of a Missouri pediatrician whose two daughters tested with high lead levels. The doctor blamed lead-based paint in their 1883 historic home and abated the hazard.

“While poverty remains a potent predictor of lead poisoning, the victims span the American spectrum—poor and rich, rural and urban, black and white,” Reuters reports.